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Friday, June 7, 2013

Top 10 Most Controversial iPhone Apps

From throwing a shoe at the president to propositioning Facebook friends for casual sex, we run through the top 10 most controversial iPhone Apps.

"I Am Rich" Released in the App Store in August of 2009, this $1,000 dollar app, which merely displayed a picture of a diamond, created much controversy when two customers unintentionally bought the app thinking it was 'just a joke'. Both complained to Apple who quickly yanked the app from their store and refunded their money. Developer, Armin Heinrich hasn't seen a penny of the $6,000 that were spent by the other six customers who intentionally purchased the application, leaving us to suspect that Apple took much more than their 30% cut. The app has since been reposted and can now be purchased for $10.

"Sweatshop" As the picture above would suggest, this new controversial app is about exploiting child workers in a bid to create 'Le Shoe'. Apple ironically pulled the game from their App Store shortly after contacting the developer, saying "it was uncomfortable selling a game based around the theme of running a sweatshops." The quote is more laughable than its gameplay, where the user is asked to block fire exits and increase work hours in a bid to create as many shoes as you can to earn a gold medal. In the 'About' section in the flash version of the game, creator, Littleloud wrote that they and Channel 4 worked with experts on sweatshops to integrate some of these realities into the game design to spread awareness.

"Slasher" Released in the midst of a huge wave of stabbings in the UK back in 2008, this simple app, depicting a picture of a knife and playing a psychotic tune of knife slashes and screams when you wave your iDevice, caused controversy throughout Britain. After much outrage, Apple quickly took the application off their App Store. The app was reposted four years later in 2012.

"My Shoe" The application is just one out of a pool of political apps that Apple has rejected to avoid controversy and anger from their users. The game, like many online games and videos at the time, parodied the incident of when an Iranian journalist threw a shoe at American president, George W. Bush. The game is much like Backflip Studios' Paper Toss, where you would hold your iDevice in your hand and swing your harm, in an attempt to hit the cartoon president with a shoe overcoming wind and other obstacles.

"SnapChat" The following application allows users to send pictures to their friends that can only be viewed by their friend for 10 seconds before it is deleted stored on the developer's servers. Despite this, users are using the application to send nude photos of themselves to other people, these are the same people who are unaware that you're able to hold the home and power button together and take a screenshot. Don't get me wrong, I'm not stopping you from being a moron but if you're below the age of 18, you could technically face 15 years in prison.

"Bang With Friends" Created by Colin Hodge, the popular app promising to make it easier for people [especially women] to ask for casual sex to their Facebook friends was cut short after it was banished from the App store for being too 'vulgar' for Apple's liking. The service, which only notifies both parties when their is a match, has one million users, with users logging over 70,000 times a day. The app, although banned from the App store, is of course still available on the Google Play store.

"Boyfriend Trainer" Originating as a flash game developed by Games2win, the iOS app allowed users to abuse a virtual boyfriend in a bid to "train him to be the ideal man." In the game the user controls a virtual girlfriend, who must physically abuse a boyfriend character through various levels or "lessons," like slapping him when he looks at other women or strangling him when he drives too fast. While the game attempted to spread female empowerment with a comedic twist, it ended up becoming criticised for the comedic portrayal of domestic violence.

"iBoobs" Unfortunately, despite its name, Apple wasn't behind this saucy application, but was behind its death in 2008, branding it "objectionable content" for its 'kid-friendly' app store. The game, which allowed users to control the movement of set of tits through the iphone's accelerometer has since been reincarnated on the Google Play store with the addition of achievements like "monster shake," and is available for $2.44."Door of Hope" Created by the morons of "Setting Captives Free,"the mobile application is just one of a wave of 'gay cure' apps, allowing 'homosexuals to be cured 'on-the-go' in only 60 days'. Following waves of negative press and public outrage, Apple quickly yanked the app from the App store in just a few days. The app, however, is still available on the Play store for free, its page bombarded with negative reviews has been rated "one star" by 800 users."Lulu" Created by Luluvise, the mobile app allows women link their ex-boyfriend's Facebook account and categorise them through hash-tags like #bigfeet, #6foot or #opensdoors to inform or warn their fellow 'girlfriends' of the guy they are dating. The idea, which sounds innocent enough, has garned negative reviews from pissed off boyfriends, demanding their profile to be deleted from the site, stating the app is a "sexist double standard."